AFRIDI

It has been a week of contrasting emotions for the Proteas as they mixed despair with brilliance. The lows of the MCG were offset by the highs of the SCG in two games of stark contrast.
The loss to India has been unpacked time and time again the...

Brisbane: Factfile on Pakistan's World Cup turmoil after chief selector Moin Khan was reportedly spotted in a casino in Christchurch hours before the team's defeat by the West Indies:
February 12: Eight Pakistan players, including maverick former captain Shahid Afridi, fined for breaching a team curfew ahead of their crucial World...

(Legendary Pakistan batsman Zaheer Abbas, IBN World Cup Cricket Expert, is contributing exclusively for Cricketnext. Catch him Live in pre- and post-match shows throughout the ICC World Cup 2015 only on CNN-IBN and IBN7)
Lamenting Pakistan's miserable defeat to West Indies on Saturday in the ICC World Cup, Pakistan batting legend...

Gautam Gambhir's hot-headed nature has seen him get into altercations with Shahid Afridi, Shane Watson and Virat Kohli on the field. On the fourth day's play of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal clash between Delhi and Mumbai at the DRIEMS College Ground in Tangi on Thursday (February 19), Shardul Thakur joined...

Pakistan's poor start to the World Cup got another jolt on Wednesday when the team's fielding coach and trainer Grant Luden quit after complaining of misbehaviour by three senior members of the team, Dawn reported on Wednesday, adding that Luden has already tendered his resignation.
Report in the Pakistan daily added...

Pakistan's World Cup campaign has been hit by a controversy with reports suggesting three senior players of the squad were involved in a bust-up with the team's fielding coach Grant Luden.
Reports claim that three players - Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad - allegedly misbehaved with Luden during...

Jubilant fans spilled out onto India's streets and let off firecrackers after the national team defeated bitter rivals Pakistan in their opening World Cup match in Adelaide on Sunday.
In bars, restaurants and homes nationwide, millions watched Virat Kohli score a majestic 107 before his side cruised to an emphatic 76-run...

Adelaide: Pakistan star Shahid Afridi played down being fined for breaking a team curfew at the World Cup on Sunday, claiming he and teammates went out to eat and not to dance the night away.
Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad and six other players were fined $300 each for returning to their Sydney...

It's a Sunday. The streets are going to be deserted, but not all the people will be at home. A little under 55,000 will be at the Adelaide Oval. Over 1.2 billion in India and around 183 million in Pakistan will in some way be connected to Australia. Drawing rooms,...

The belief that "old is gold" will once again be put to the test in this World Cup, with several players bolstering teams with their experience and guile.
Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene, Pakistan's Shahid Afridi and New Zealand's Daniel Vettori are the most experienced players as each of the trio will...

Pakistan one-day skipper Misbah-ul Haq and predecessor Shahid Afridi play for the same team, but come from different worlds. If the unpredictable Pakistanis are to secure a second World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, they need the two heavyweight talents to forge a united front.
Misbah is conservative, careful; Afridi...

If you have had good two weeks before the World Cup, consider yourself in with a chance to lift the trophy: that's what former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar feels about the chances of teams finishing on top of the podium in Australia and New Zealand.
The controversial Pakistan fast bowler was...

Karachi: Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has expressed concerns over the national cricket team not getting enough matches and time to get acclimatised to the conditions in New Zealand and Australia ahead of the World Cup, starting from February 14.
"When you look at India and how they are still struggling...

Karachi: If there is one team among the top eight at the World Cup which could either crash out embarrassingly in the first round or romp to the title, it's Pakistan.
The talented yet unpredictable side are haunted by injuries to their fast bowlers, the suspension of match-winning spinner Saeed Ajmal...

Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi is to play for Northamptonshire in the first six rounds of English cricket's 2015 T20 Blast competition, the Midlands county announced on Monday.
One of the most spectacular hitters of a cricket ball the game has know, the 34-year-old Afridi - nicknamed 'Boom Boom' for his dynamism...

Former captain Rashid Latif has sparked off a new controversy in Pakistan cricket by suggesting that flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi must not retire from one-day internationals after the World Cup.
"I don't think this is the right time to retire for Shahid. Misbah has already announced he will retire after the...

Form is temporary, class is permanent. The real class of a player shows in situations where he can turn in a mach-winning performance when the team is in trouble.
The World Cup has been witness to many such performances and no doubt the 2015 edition will see some more. These are...

Karachi: Eager to do well in the upcoming cricket World Cup, some members of the Pakistan squad have asked for particular shirt numbers after consulting their spiritual advisors.
Middle-order batsman Umar Akmal, who was recently blessed with a baby girl, has on the advice of his 'Pir' has opted for number...

Karachi: Allrounder Shahid Afridi said he will try to wrest back the record of scoring the fastest ODI hundred when Pakistan tours New Zealand and during the World Cup to make it a memorable farewell for him and his fans from 50 overs cricket. Afridi has announced he will retire...

Karachi: Pakistan out of favour allrounder Abdul Razzaq had lashed out at the national team's head coach Waqar Younis for launching a campaign against established senior players.
"Till Waqar is the coach I will never be considered for a comeback to the national team," Razzaq complained.
"For some reason since Waqar became...

Karachi: The Pakistan World Cup squad on Saturday interacted with the surviving children of the Army Public School carnage in Peshawar and also with their parents who were affected by the terrorist attacks on December 16.
Soon after moving scenes were seen as the players shook hands with the injured children...

Melbourne: The marquee cricket World Cup match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan in Adelaide on February 15 will be the most watched in the history of the game as it is expected to attract more than a billion viewers, according to a report.
The Group B clash will eclipse the 988...

Karachi: Pakistan's flamboyant allrounder Shahid Afridi says that Virat Kohli was "too emotional" as a leader and it will take him some time to fill in the captaincy void left by Mahendra Singh Dhoni's retirement from Test cricket.
Afridi said he was a big fan of Kohli's cricketing skills but he...

Karachi: Pakistan's spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed believes that spinners will have a key role to play in the forthcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Mushtaq, himself, a former Test leg spinner, said on Friday that despite the fact that pacemen usually dominated on the pitches in Australia and...

KARACHI: If fan following was a yardstick of greatness in cricket, Pakistan's colourful all-rounder Shahid Afridi would probably be ranked his country's greatest ever player.
Ever since he hit a 37-ball hundred in only his second One-day international-against Sri Lanka in Nairobi in 1996-Afridi has been a cult figure in Pakistan....

Pakistan's experienced allrounder Shahid Afridi has announced his retirement from one-day internationals after next year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Afridi told a news conference on Sunday that after the World Cup, which starts on February 14, he will focus on T20 matches leading up to the T20...